Thursday, June 25, 2015

A Tornado of a Graduating Ceremony

On Tuesday night, I accompanied my daughter,
son-in-law, and my grandson to his high school graduation ceremony at the
Washington Township High School. There were close to 600 graduates, so this
will give you an idea of the size of the school. It’s freaking large. There were so many families there to celebrate the graduation that the attendees were split up into two auditoriums: the main one and one that was at the other end of the building.

Did I mention how big the Washington Township High
School is?

You need GPS just to get from one end of the
building to the other which is a quite an adventure for directionally
challenged people like me. Thankfully, the staff and students were very helpful. Note of
interest, on the long walk to the other auditorium, I noticed vending machines
and bathrooms. I made a mental note of their location because I’m always in ‘Zombie
Squad’ mode in case of emergencies and at my age; bathrooms are top of the
list.

I brought my umbrella, silly me, thinking that the
rain would just be a summer downpour. Although my daughter and her husband were already seated in the main auditorium, I stood in line waiting to enter the smaller auditorium. Suddenly, the lights started blinking on and off, followed by flashes of lightning and booming thunder.

The rain and wind hit the school full force damaging one of their large
canopies. Water was beginning to seep in through the metal
doors close to where we were waiting to enter the auditorium. The wind continued to howl outside, plus none of our cells
phones were working. I had no way to contact my daughter because texting only occasional worked. The
maintenance crew did a great job keeping people calm and taking care of the
water that had seeped in. Once we were allowed to enter the smaller auditorium, things calmed down and we were able to enjoy a beautiful
ceremony. I was surprised to learn that the high school was celebrating their big 50. A speech was given by one of the members of the graduating class of 1966. I think that was so cool to compare what the school was like when it opened its doors.

Before the ceremony was over, I decided to walk towards
the larger auditorium, so I could locate my family before the mad dash of mass photo opportunities that I was sure would begin as soon as the graduates exited the main auditorium.

Did I mention how big the Washington Township High
School is?

I was lost in an endless set of hallways that
stretched onto forever. I’ve had nightmares like this; you walk and walk
but never see the end of the tunnel. I turned a corner and bumped
into another lost soul who was trying to find his way to the main hall. “Let’s
stick together,” I said.

On our journey to the main hall, we began to see
other lost souls, “Follow us,” we called out. At one point, our group had grown
to at least ten strong. We began to resemble the cast of “The Walking Dead”
All we needed was Michonne and her katana. I told my fellow travelers that if
we couldn’t find our way out of the building, I knew where the vending machines
were. Disaster preparation training comes in handy at all times.

Finally, we heard voices; happy voices. We survived!
After saying goodbye to my fellow travelers I found my family and we took pictures
together. When it was time to drive home, we saw the damage that the storm had
done. It was bad. Trees were down, power lines were down, no lights, no traffic
lights. It was very scary making my way back home to Audubon. The trees in one
section went down in a straight line. I was pretty sure we had been hit by a tornado, but the news stations says it wasn’t.

But a friend of mine took this picture from his home in East Greenwich/Mantua area. I'm thinking we had several small tornadoes across South Jersey, but I didn't see any other photos like the one from Mantua...still...the damage was similar.

I told my grandson, Josh, that this was one
graduation that I would never forget. I actually had fun in spite of the storm. When my youngest grandson is ready to
graduate from the wonderful Washington Township High School, six years from
now, I’m going to ask permission to use a Segway to get around the
building.